Monthly Archives: August 2014

I know. I know. I spent MONTHS dissecting CHAPTERS about this man’s life.

But last Sunday my pastor shared something that I had never thought about. And it really hit home. So I had to share it with you.

Over the summer my pastor has been hitting some of the ‘big’ stories in the book of Genesis. And last Sunday he taught on part of Joseph’s life.

He shared about Joseph’s home life. How his father doted on him and favored him over all the other brothers. How the brothers resented Joseph for their father’s favoritism. How Joseph shared his dreams about ruling over his family with those same brothers (not a real smart move). And how eventually the brothers had had enough of Joseph.

My pastor talked about how first the brothers were going to kill Joseph. Then they decided it would be more humane to drop him in a pit and leave him there to starve to death. That made them hungry, so they took a break and ate lunch.

Then a caravan came by and they decided why not make some money off of the situation. So they sold Joseph to the passing caravan.

I know you remember all of that part. And I’m sure you also remember what they did next.

They killed a goat and covered Joseph’s infamous coat with the blood and took it to their dad and said, Hey! This looks kinda familiar. Is this your son’s coat? (My paraphrase.)

And Jacob is inconsolable. No one can comfort him. And he spends the next two decades mourning Joseph. He mourns him until he learns that Joseph is indeed alive and well in Egypt.

The point that my pastor shared was this: Jacob lived over two decades of his life believing a lie. He based his attitude on that lie. He based a lot of life decisions on that lie. He related to his family and friends based on that lie. He related to God based on that lie.

His whole life was affected by this lie. It colored his entire world. For over two decades.

Then my pastor asked this question: What lie are you believing and how is it affecting your life?

Wow. That’s a powerful question. And I had to do some soul-searching.

Here are some of the questions I had to ask myself:

Do you believe that God’s love for you is based on how well you follow a set of rules? Or how well you ‘behave?’ Or how much you study your Bible and pray and attend church and give to the poor?

Do you believe that you’re not good enough? Or smart enough? Or young/old enough? . . . To do/be whatever you feel God wants you to do/be?

Do you believe you’ve made too many mistakes? Or one too BIG mistakes? And because of this, you’ve used up all your chances?

Do you believe your past is too powerful to overcome? That what you’ve done can’t be forgiven? Or that what’s been done to you can’t be redeemed?

What is the lie (or lies) that you’re believing?

And how is that lie keeping you from living the life God created you to live?

How is believing that lie stopping you from fulfilling your purpose?

How is the perpetuation of that lie keeping you from being the influence in your family and your church and your community that God wants you to be?

And what is the TRUTH that needs to replace that lie?

My prayer is that you will take some time this week and ask God what lie(s) you’re believing. And then ask Him to reveal to you the TRUTH. And then I challenge you to start verbally replacing that lie with the truth every time you think about it.